You will find our alumni working in every field imaginable, making a difference in the world every day. Take a look at what some of our alumni are doing now.
Towalame Austin: Alumna Works Magic in Philanthropy as President of Nonprofit
Towalame Austin (BS 2004), president of the Magic Johnson Foundation (MJF) may be based in an office in Beverly Hills, but she remains connected to the underserved communities that the Foundation serves nationwide.
As president of the MJF, Austin leads the nonprofit's commitment to health, education and social needs of ethnically diverse urban communities. She is responsible for overseeing the operations and growth of the organization, in keeping with its three-pronged mission of HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness and education.
The Foundation’s commitment to the health, educational and social needs of underserved communities keeps Austin busy with overseeing programs including the AHF Magic Johnson Healthcare Clinics. In 2006, she launched a highly successful campaign for World AIDS Day, “I Stand with Magic,” that tested more 1,300 at-risk individuals for HIV/AIDS. She also oversees the Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program, which awards four-year scholarships and mentoring to college students, complete with a laptop computer and paid summer internships with MJF’s corporate partners.
Austin also supervises 18 Magic Johnson Community Empowerment Centers throughout the nation, including a recently opened facility in Eastover, South Carolina, the first center in a rural area. The centers are dedicated to the education of children and adults and provide access to technology, afterschool programs for at-risk youth, seminars and workshops on health, finances, and home ownership, and industry certifications and jobs in technology fields.
“They say that during a recession, people go back to school,” says Austin. “They get themselves geared up for coming out of the recession, whether it’s the degree they always wanted or whatever skill or trade they’ve always wanted to do.”
Education in its many forms, whether in the classroom or on-the-job, is important to Austin, who was hired by MJF 12 years ago as a part-time receptionist. Realizing that her aspirations were in marketing, after taking classes at West Los Angeles College and Santa Monica Colleges, she transferred to CSU Dominguez Hills. She says that the university’s accommodation of the working adult’s 9 to 5 schedule was a key to her success along with her own personal drive to get an education.
Austin has received numerous accolades for her work with the Foundation, including a commendation from the County of Los Angeles for community service, the Public Education Foundation's Lifetime Educational Achievement Award, and a proclamation from the City of Eastover, South Carolina. Austin obtained a degree in business administration and marketing at CSU Dominguez Hills while working at MJF. After more than a decade with the organization, Austin looks forward to more growth with the company that in the spirit of its mission, supported her throughout her education.
Victor Rodriguez: Top Vascular Surgeon Provides Lifeline for Student Success
When Victor Rodriguez, M.D. (Class of ’92, B.S., biology) was growing up in Torreon in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, a young medical student showed him and several other boys a cadaver lab. The initial shock gave way to fascination and eventually three of the boys grew up to become doctors, Rodriguez recently told a biology class at California State University, Dominguez Hills. The top vascular surgeon for Kaiser Permanente in northern California returned to his alma mater to encourage students to reach for their dreams.
Rodriguez was raised by his grandparents until he was 11, when his family moved to the United States. As an immigrant youth in California, he remembers that he was never groomed at the schools he attended for anything remotely resembling his current success.
“My [high school] counselor never told me to get ready to take the SAT,” he says.
Rodriguez served in the Marine Corps as a way to pay for college, and when his duty as an airplane mechanic was over, he enrolled at Cerritos College. When he was ready to move on to a four-year university, he was encouraged by one of his instructors at Cerritos College to give Dominguez Hills a try. He credits the individual attention he received from his professors as vital to success in medical school and his career.
“Dr. (Eugene) Garcia, Dr. (Thomas) Lyle, Dr. (James) Riley (former professors of chemistry) - they all wrote me great letters of recommendation because they knew me,” says Rodriguez.
“Garcia guided me and told me where to apply, and was even able to get me a spot in the pre-med group over at UC Irvine. They knew where I came from and they knew where I was going.
“In bigger places, when you ask for a letter of recommendation from your teacher, you don’t really have any interaction with them,” he says. “There’s a generic letter that’s written . . . They know nothing about . . . you.”
Rodriguez now gives back by mentoring young students and propelling them to medical school and careers in the field.
“Even if you only help one [person], it makes a huge difference,” he states. “My way of giving back, of going back to my roots, is by doing this type of outreach and mentoring.”
As a vascular surgeon in Kaiser’s South Sacramento Medical Center, he specializes in complex aortic reconstructions and peripheral arterial reconstructions.
Rodriguez earned his medical degree at the University of California, Davis and served his residency at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. He completed a fellowship at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wis., and currently has an academic appointment at UC Davis, teaching vascular surgery.
Sithea San: Alumna Works to Build Community in Long Beach’s Cambodia Town
As a founder and now chair of the board of directors for the fledgling Cambodia Town ethnic district in Long Beach, Sithea San (Class of ’91, B.S., business administration) continues to live by the words of a professor she fondly remembers from her days at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Kosaku Yoshida, Ph.D., told his finance class that the obstacles throughout the journey are not what matter, but the end result.
Located along Long Beach’s Anaheim Street between Junipero and Atlantic avenues, Cambodia Town received its designation from the Long Beach City Council on July 3, 2007, after years of planning, organizing and controversy. There were many who believed the designation would ignite gang rivalry and create strain among those with different racial backgrounds. However, with the designation and a multicultural board, the tensions are subsiding.
At the age of 13, San came to America to escape the Khmer Rouge regime. Her family walked for days to Thailand in order to leave the killing fields of Cambodia.
“My family walked all day, I don’t remember how many days,” San recalls. She and her family stayed in two refugee camps along the way. There, San and her sisters learned the traditional folk dances of Cambodia. In 1981 her uncle, who was living in Long Beach, sponsored the refugee family and they came to America.
San and her husband met while attending California State University, Long Beach. The two helped put together the first Cambodian Culture Show in 1987. “That’s how I got to know my husband; I trained him to dance,” she recollects excitedly.
After primarily attending CSULB, San and her husband transferred to CSU Dominguez Hills because classes were more accessible, allowing them to graduate by their goal date. The plan was to take classes at the Dominguez Hills campus and transfer back to CSULB for graduation, but Sithea San says, “We fell in love with Cal State Dominguez Hills, both of us, and we stayed to graduate from there.”
And, using the philosophy imparted to her while at CSU Dominguez Hills, San can now look back at the formation of Cambodia Town and say, “We don’t look at the cost, the obstacles... You look at the end of the day, the bottom [line]. People try to slow us down…but in the end we got the Cambodia [Town] designation…That’s why I say I fell in love [with CSU Dominguez Hills] because of one professor’s words. And, we’re [still] using them. It works.”
Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel: Space, the Not-So-Final Frontier
Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, CSU Dominguez Hills M.B.A. graduate (’74) and commander of the United States Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), was named the Air Force Association’s (AFA) 2007 Gen. Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy winner, for his outstanding contribution to the nation's progress in aerospace. The award is named for General White, who served as the fourth Air Force chief of staff from 1957 to 1961. Previous recipients of the award include astronauts, major command commanders and Secretaries of the Air Force.
Under Hamel's leadership, SMC recently had its 51st successful space launch in a row, which SMC officials consider an unparalleled accomplishment in military space history. He serves not only as the center’s commander but also as the Air Force program executive officer (AFPEO) for space, leading more than 5,000 personnel with an annual budget of more than $10 billion. Hamel looks forward to SMC’s future achievements:
“In the next year or two, we will have the first-time launch of five new satellite systems that represent a major set of capabilities for military users in the field. One, for example, is being finalized at Boeing in El Segundo. It is called the Wideband Global Satellite Communications system. The first satellite we launch will have more capacity than all the constellations in orbit today. This represents more than a tenfold increase in capacity just from that one satellite system.
“We have four other new first-of-a-kind satellites that will also go into orbit in the next one to two years. Each represents an increase in ability to military operators as well as new mission capability in surveillance for ballistic missiles, other targets and keeping track of everything that is in space. We’re in the middle of getting one system on contract. It is an advanced communication satellite that includes Internet switching on the satellite. Anybody on the ground can log in on their computer and, with Internet communications through a satellite system in orbit, get connected to anyone else who’s authorized.
“All of these achievements make us very proud. We are making major new advances for not only our military users but also for the nation. Our continued leadership in space is absolutely critical for our success and well-being as a nation.”
Hamel has been assigned to SMC several times throughout his career. He played a role in the creation of the Global Positioning System (GPS), from its beginnings in the 1970s to its worldwide use today, and has overseen the advance of global missile warning systems. His strategic vision and hands-on expertise across all facets of the space enterprise guided the center to recognition as the preeminent development and acquisition center for space within the Department of Defense.
Joy Sikorski: Alumna Finds Connections Between Music and Mothering
When Joy Sikorski (Class of ’01, M.A., humanities) raised and home-schooled her three children in the Alaskan wilderness, she realized that one of the many stimuli that they responded well to was the sound of her voice. Their emotions and ability to learn were greatly influenced by this. When her voice was uptight and strident, they reacted with tension and an inability to focus. When her voice was gentle and reassuring, they felt safe and relaxed, which enabled them to ask questions, communicate and absorb information easily.
This inspired Sikorski to create SingBabySing, a line of educational products designed to help parents and children relax, meditate and learn. The accomplished musician and composer developed a program with original music, games, and exercises that encourage voice and speech development in infants as young as 3 to 4 months. She named the Puccini Effect. Similar to the Mozart Effect, which is a theory about the ears and brain receiving musical sounds and sending messages to the rest of the body about them, the Puccini Effect has to do with music coming from inside the body and going out, sending messages through the vocal cords and mouth. According to Sikorski, both the Mozart Effect and the Puccini Effect have a profound impact on language development.
Sikorski experienced her own home-schooling, earning her master’s degree through the CSU Dominguez Hills College of Extended Education while in Alaska. Her thesis, titled “Dream Songs - an Isopomorphism between the Tangible and the Ineffable,” examined the historical
and contemporary theories surrounding the concept of “music of the spheres,” a philosophical concept that imbues music with supernatural or harmonic powers.
In her research of ancient Celtic, Hebrew and Native American cultures for her thesis, Sikorski discovered the common thread of a power belonging to music that goes beyond normal understanding, and drew a few possible conclusions about music as a healing force.
“I learned that the earth vibrates at what is called the Schumann frequency —not associated with the composer —as do other planets and celestial objects,” says Sikorski. “Sound frequencies pulsing at exact brainwave speeds cause a sympathetic response in the brain by which the brainwaves alter themselves to match the sound frequencies. The DNA in our bodies also vibrates and emits sound frequencies. Beethoven is said to have claimed that there were certain musical compositions he could not complete unless he heard them in a dream, and the Celts believed that certain types of music could stop armies in their tracks.”
Sikorski says that what drew her to the Humanities (HUX) program offered by Extended Education, along with the convenience of doing the program from a remote location, was “the freedom to create a topic of particular interest to me, and then, with the help of the Dominguez Hills faculty and staff, explore it in such an unencumbered fashion that I could communicate my findings for the benefit of others.”
Danny Grissett: Jazz Pianist
Originally from Los Angeles, California, pianist/composer Danny Grissett started playing the piano at age five and studying classically at six. Danny earned his B.A. in Music Education from CSU Dominguez Hills in 1998 and developed a love for jazz.
After graduating from CSU Dominguez Hills, Grissett simultaneously attended Cal Arts, where he earned an M.F.A. in jazz piano, and The Monk Institute, a prestigious post-graduate program at the University of Southern California. In 2001, he began teaching the jazz ensemble at CSU Dominguez Hills.
“That experience was great. It solidified some things I already knew and made me more fluent as an artist,” says Grissett.
Grissett toured with luminaries like Herbie Hancock, recorded with trombonist Phil Ranelin, and secured regular gigs at local jazz clubs around Los Angeles like Charlie O’s, Catalina Bar & Grill, and Rocco. In 2003 he moved to New York to make a name for himself in the jazz world.
Since landing in New York, he has performed with such notables as Freddie Hubbard, Steve Wilson, The Mingus Big Band, Marcus Strickland, Russell Malone, Jeremy Pelt, and the Tom Harrell quintet. He has also performed at international jazz festivals and clubs. Currently he is working and touring with Nicholas Payton’s new quartet. Danny’s first cd as a leader, Promise, was released in May 2006.
Patrick West: City Manager for Long Beach, California
When Patrick West was earning his M.B.A. (Class of ’86) at California State University, Dominguez Hills, he was deeply impressed with the campus and the features that made it an environment conducive to learning.
“I tell everybody that I talk to that Dominguez Hills is the best,” he enthuses. “I found it to be both super-friendly and user-friendly. The library was always accessible and there were beautiful places to go lie on the grass and study.”
Similarly concerned about his home environment, the former city manager of Paramount went into action when he found that his city was named the eighth worst suburb in America in the early 1980s, working with that community’s agencies and developing an infrastructure in the city to prevent and fight crime.
“The Paramount city council did not bury its head in the sand,” he says. We had a very strong redevelopment agency and a very strong city manager at the time, Bill Holt, who is my mentor. We took that [challenge] on, saying, ‘We are not going to be on that list. We had a lot of support from the community and a lot of redevelopment that turned that city around. Violent crime dropped 41 percent, crime dropped 48 percent. Paramount has a huge anti-gang program. As the population doubled, the number of gang members in our town decreased by 50 percent. It’s a beautiful city that people are proud to be from.”
Now, as the new city manager of Long Beach, he plans to do the same thing with the sprawling metropolis. West’s organic approach to improving the city depends upon the collaboration of its agencies. Public safety is a major issue for him, one that he intends to address by creating partnerships among the city’s many agencies and departments.
“We need a common vision that everybody shares in every department,” West says. “I know we’re tapped for resources, we truly are. But, there are resources available. We’ve got a redevelopment agency, we’ve got a water department, we’ve got a gas and oil department and a public works department. We need to meet the public perception that we’re not responding to the streets enough. We want to make sure we’re all at the same table, and that whenever one department is touching a street that we all leave it better.”
West is adamant that tapping into the city’s resources is an investment in the future of Long Beach. He is willing to bear temporary shortages for long-term insurance of the city’s reputation.
“Crime in the country is going up but crime in Long Beach is going down. [The police department] spent their extra resources to make that happen,” he notes. “At the end of the day, I would much rather be in a situation with a budget problem than a situation with a crime problem, where Long Beach is looked upon as an unsafe city. It could take years to climb out of that.”
As an M.B.A. student at Dominguez Hills, West appreciated the communal atmosphere of the campus and the accessibility of its resources. He hopes to provide the same for Long Beach residents, stating that the city’s success in improving its streets depends on a partnership with its citizens.
Dirk Sciarrotta: Alumnus Takes Home An Emmy
Dirk Sciarrotta (Class of ‘94, B.A., music) can now add Emmy Award-winning sound effects mixer to his resume. In June 2007, he won the Outstanding Achievement in the Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing Award at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences 34th Annual Daytime Creative Arts & Entertainment Emmy Awards Ceremony. His acceptance can be viewed at www.emmyonline.org/daytime/stream.html.
“It’s all about getting it right the first time with very little rehearsal,” says the
Torrance native, who since 2004 has been nominated three times for his work on the Tournament of Roses Parade coverage on CBS and three times for “The Price is Right.” This is his first Emmy, which was for work he did on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
While a student at California State University, Dominguez Hills, Sciarrotta aspired to becoming a recording engineer like his uncle, Don Sciarrotta.
“I never thought I would be doing television,” he says after nine years in the industry.“Before this, I worked for Disneyland for seven years. I started while I was still in school, doing live sound at the park for all their shows. After meeting some people in the television industry, an opportunity opened up, and I did well at it. So it snowballed from there.”
When asked what was next on the horizon, Sciarrotta quips, “More Emmys. I need bookends.”
As a freelance sound engineer, he does audio mixing for hundreds of television shows, concerts and events, including “The Price is Right,” the Soul Train Music Awards, Cirque du Soleil and U2’s Zoo TV tour. Taking his years of expertise, he, along with business partner Tom Evans, established Cuelogic Audio more than a year ago. The company that provides custom audio playback systems to the entertainment industry and its equipment and software has been used during broadcasts of the “Grammy Awards,” “The Apprentice” and “Family Feud.”
Sciarrotta says that his greatest influence as a student at Dominguez Hills was professor of music David Bradfield.
“He was real; he told you like it was,” says Sciarrotta. “He didn’t sugarcoat anything, which prepared us to leave school. You weren’t surprised when you got out there in the working world.”